Kazuto Morisato
by Worldbringer of Joseun
Summary: We never did learn Kazuto's parents' names. Now we get to find out what would happen if Kazuto happened to be a demigod that hasn't been seen since the beginning of the Judgement Gate policy.
1. Table of Contents

Kazuto Morisato Table of Contents

Summary: We never did learn Kazuto's parent's names. Now we get to find out what would happen if Kazuto happened to be a demigod that hasn't been seen since the beginning of the Judgement Gate policy.

 _As can be guessed, this is an 'what-if' Kazuto Kirigaya was the son of Keiichi Morisato and Belldandy. Surprisingly, this only required a few changes to Sword Art Online canon. First, Suguha's mother and Kazuto's adopted mother is now Megumi Kirigaya not Midori Kirigaya. From there, we changed the fact that she was Kazuto's mom's younger sister to her being the younger sister of Kazuto's dad. Second, there are now reasons for why Kirito was able to break all sorts of rules in Sword Art Online rather than his pure willpower overpowering both the programming of the game and Cardinal. Third, Kayaba Akahito's ability to produce a ground-breaking 3D virtual reality game with such a wide range of graphics and sensory interfaces without it taking decades has a reason. Other things will show up such as Klein's real name being different but mentioning them this early will result in spoilers._

 _The entire story takes place after Belldandy and Keiichi's marriage at the end of the manga for Ah My Goddess. However, if you look at the dates, you will discover that it probably doesn't hold water. I have only two things to say to that:_

 _One: (Jedi mind trick) You do not notice any timeline inconsistencies. Please read and review the following chapters while under the control of the Jedi Mind Trick._

 _Two: Have a strong enough will to resist the Jedi mind trick and I will arrange for Hagall to drop by and put you under hypnosis. If she is too busy, then I'll get Urd to give you a potion. If she is busy watching her soap operas and dramas, then I'll have Skuld do it. And I won't take away either her debugging hammer or Texas Murder that she has repaired. The power of the author is amazing (Deus ex Author!). Mock not at your own peril._

* * *

Canon Compliancy

This is the story line that shows how this what-if could be part of Sword Art Online canon. It just didn't show up in what we saw.

1\. The Unfortuitous Accident (Genre: Drama)

As astute observers will observe, this story must have taken place sometime after Belldandy gave birth and Megumi getting married. Answers "How did Kazuto Morisato end up being adopted by the Kirigayas?"

2\. Visiting an Old Home (Genre: Family)

Megumi takes her nephew to his parent's house. Answers "How did Kazuto end up with a motorcycle within a year or two of escaping Aincrad?"

* * *

Kazuto the Interim Wish-Granter

This storyline explores what if Kazuto was raised by Belldandy and Keiichi. When his relatives, including Tyr, learn that he is trapped by Kayaba, they try to get him free. The best they can do is to give him a temporary license as a wish-granter and the full shares from the energy that is used to fulfill the wishes of the people trapped inside SAO. Now a demi-god will face Cardinal, Kayaba, and Aincrad. But is a half-trained teenage third-class, temporary 2nd category, temporary unlimited demi-god enough to beat the greatest AI on Earth?

1\. The Goddess Relief Office's Temporary Intern for Aincrad, the Start (Genre: Adventure)

Kazuto was ready to start playing Sword Art Online. Until a phone call from his grandfather came.

* * *

 ** ** **I have decided to try a new style of writing. Rather than weaving one story together, this will be a collection of a series of shorts, some linked together, some not. When I first started this, I intended to do just Canon Compliancy. However, I then went "Ooh, what if Kazuto was made an intern Wish-granter for SAO?" And I liked the ideas enough that I was tempted to abandon Canon Compliancy to write that. But I didn't want to adandon Canon Compliancy since it's existence helped Interim Wish-Granter be better. So I decided to do both.******

 **Updates will be irregular.**


	2. CC 1: The Unfortuitious Accident

Kazuto Morisato

Canon Compliancy : The Unfortuitous Accident

It was a nice, chilly autumn day with the sun shining and only a few wispy clouds in the sky, as Keiichi Morisato swerved right and away from the ongoing crash between the semi-van in front of him and the huge truck in front of the semi-van. As his heart beat accelerated and his hands started reaching for the brakes, Keiichi's eyes spotted the purple oncoming Toyota five seater in the oncoming lane. The oncoming lane which he was now in.

' _Oh my!'_ Keiichi thoughts blurted out. The car was coming fast, the sound of squealing tires now adding into the horns and blares from the crashed vehicles on the left side of the road. Collision seemed imminent and swerving again would only result in him and the male, white shirt driver, who he could already see at a much closer distance than he would have liked, colliding and adding to the damage that this accident already had. Brakes would too slow for him to stop and there was no direction that would be safe… unless Keiichi broke common sense and applied the gas so that he could move out of the lane before his motorcycle and the purple car slammed together.

In spite of Keiichi's impressive driving skills in the face of two accidents and years of race-track driving, reality would like to comment that while dodging two traffic accidents is good, it also could happen in a safer place than the mountain that Keiichi's home is on, especially at a switch back. Even then, today Keiichi's unlucky star must have decided to give a bit of a breather as instead of slamming head on into a cliff which would instantly kill him in spite of his helmet, he instead had the pleasure of moving even faster towards the guard rail separating him from a several hundred meter drop to the bottom of the mountain.

' _Do I swerve and hope that the oncoming crash between me and the purple car isn't too bad or do I trust in the guard rail? Can the brakes in the one and a half meters from the edge of the lane to the guard rail, slow me down enough that I don't go flying off the side of the cliff?'_ Keiichi's adrenaline empowered brain considered. At the speed of thought, Keiichi decided that he could only try to avoid involving the other driver in this horrible accident. Fateful choice having been made, Keiichi went full throttle on the gas as his motorcycle dashed forward through the lane.

At this point, Keiichi's unlucky star decided that immaturity was best and stuck out its metaphorical tongue at Keiichi. The purple car, seeing Keiichi enter his lane from the left, decided to swerve away from him. Unfortunately, that happened to be where Keiichi was going. When the now terrified driver saw, he wrenched at the wheel in an attempt to get away from the crazy motorcyclist.

It could have worked. It almost did work. Unfortunately, as Keiichi now applied the brakes and the driver yanked his hands on the wheel, they clipped each other on the sides. The driver lost control and spun several times through a full circle before finally stopping in the lane for traffic moving in the other direction. Keiichi on the other hand wasn't so lucky. As his motorcycle start to turn as a result of being clipped, his trajectory changed from going over his handle bars and then into open air before a fall down the mountain into flying over the guard rails and falling towards the cliffs on the other side of the mountain switchback.

As Keiichi suddenly noticed the loss of contact between his bum and the motorcycle while his hands lost the battle to stay gripped to the handlebars, his memories flashed. _Darling little Kazuto as he grinned towards his mother while she tried to persuade him to eat his baby food. Belldandy's smile at their wedding. Her waiting at the end of Judgement Gate for him. Their first kiss. Their first meeting._

Life flashing before his eyes, Keiichi screamed out "BELLDANDY!"

* * *

Several kilometers away, at a kitchen in a temple, Belldandy hummed to herself as she started to cut the vegetables that she would put in tonight's soup. After this, she would need to start boiling the water and keep an eye on it so that she could know when to put in the vegetables. She smiled as she imagined the way Keiichi's eyes would light up as he ate her cooking. Although, little Kazuto might not brighten up, he might have some fun at the dinner table. Which reminded her, as she glanced towards the corner where Sigel was shining a laser across the wall while little Kazuto's head tried to follow the red dot, she might need to set out some paper napkins under Kazuto's bowl so that she could quickly clean up any spills.

A thin cry started up from the corner, and Belldandy immediately turned to see Sigel bring the red light to rest on top of Kazuto's right hand.

"Sorry, Lady Belldandy. I moved the laser a little too fast for his visual perception speed. He did not appear to like it when it vanished from his sight," Sigel stated as Kazuto tried to touch the red light, first with his right hand and then with his left. "I am proud to say that his perception speed has risen by .0014% since the last time we tried this game."

"No worries Sigel. Thank you for helping with Kazuto as I cook dinner," Belldandy smiled before she put down the knife to walk over to Kazuto and Sigel. She kneeled, as she whispered to her baby. "Who's a good little boy playing with friend Sigel. Yes, you are. Yes, you are, my darling Kazuto."

Kazuto giggled as his attention left the red dot and looked at his mother's face and arms as she picked him up and started walking around the kitchen bouncing him a little as she did. As she did so, she felt something stir a fair distance away. A sound like metal impacting metal at high speeds. She paused, as she heard more sounds, sounds like a faint high-pitched squealing, which corresponded to rubber on cement, a blaring of noise not too different from irritated drivers dealing with her sister-in-law's races on the mountain roads, and another crash of metal on metal. As she listened closely, the sounds seemed to come from the switchback on the mountain road.

"Lady Belldandy, my sensors indicate that there seems to have been a traffic accident approximately 473.4 meters at 72.3° from here. Would you like me to …" Sigel stopped as Belldandy nearly dropped Kazuto, albeit as gently as that speed would permit, to the ground before flying off through the closed window at her highest flight speed.

Sigel scooped down to pick-up Kazuto even as the glass started falling and Kazuto started scrunching his face up before she raced out of the room. She had to get to Mistress Skuld as soon as possible. She had to.

Because if even her fine sensors could pick-up the scream of "Belldandy", then how would a goddess's ears miss the cry of her most devoted worshipper, her husband?

* * *

Skuld's fingers flew over the keyboard of her Asgardian terminal as she raced to input her answer to her timed quiz. Could the key to a 3rd degree transmutation of a tauon across the time symmetry be found in part of the 43rd Taylor term of the as-to-yet undiscovered Hinklski's equation or would it be better to use a partial derivation with regards to position? Give your reasoning.

The answer was of course that both would give the answer, but as a goddess she would be expected to know which answer would be more efficient, quicker, and how both perspectives would affect the _perception_ of the particle. The particle would naturally exist at that spot regardless of which method was used but the perception of the particle would differ on the method. If you used the Hinklski's equation then …

Skuld frowned as she heard Kazuto's crying start up. She needed to go help her adorable nephew, oh he was so _cute,_ but if she didn't finish this quiz, then she would have to spend even more away from him as she would have to retake this past week's lessons for her update to her lightspeed mechanic's class.

The door barged open as Sigel carrying Kazuto came through in a flurry and Sigel shouted "Mistress Skuld! Keiichi has been in an accident and Lady Belldandy has rushed out to the site. 4.3 seconds ago, she cried out "Keiichi" and energy levels have spiked in that vicinity. What are your orders?"

Skuld forgot all about the test as she rushed over to pick up her debugging hammer before running out the door even as she sped through her instructions to Sigel, "Watch Kazuto for me. Keep him safe and don't let him cry. I'll be back."

"Yes, Mistress Skuld!" Sigel then started patting Kazuto's back as she muttered "There, there young Lord Kazuto. It is all right. No need to fuss. Aunty Skuld and Mama will be back soon."

Skuld rushed out, not keeping herself limited to the ground as she flew down the corridor and out the door. Sigel, still holding and fussing over little Kazuto, moved over to the side to let Skuld move past.

Behind Sigel, Skuld's monitor displayed her quizzes' response ""wgehdkhl/;" is not an appropriate word nor is your answer complete and adequate. Please contact your tutor to discuss your next course of action."

* * *

The temple was silent.

In Keiichi and Belldandy's room, Sigel was plugged in, recharging. In the crib next to her, Kazuto had cried himself to sleep. Tears still stained his blanket. None of the three goddesses had returned. The kitchen stove had been turned off after tonight's dinner had burned.

The phone rang. Once. Twice. Thrice. Then it stopped.

The phone rang again. Once. Twice. Thrice. Again, it stopped.

The phone rang a third time. Once. Twice. Thrice. Again, Sigel did according to her protocols and let it ring until it finished or someone else answered the phone.

It did not ring a fourth time.

The temple returned to silence.

* * *

The motor and tires of a bike roared up to the temple gate. It dulled to quiet rumble before coming to a halt. Once again, the temple enjoyed silence. At least until the front door to the house slammed open.

"Keiichi! Keiichi! Are you there?" Megumi Morisato- no, now it was Megumi Kirigaya, called out. Her voice rang with fear and desperation. "Keiichi, please answer!"

Sigel and Banpei stirred as their sensors told them of an intruder on the temple grounds. Banpei unplugged himself from his socket before grabbing some good luck charms, just in case it was Mara masquerading as Megumi again.

"Keiichi, are you alright? Belldandy? Urd? Skuld? Is anyone home?"

"Greetings, miss Kirigaya. Please keep it down, Kazuto is asleep. What may we do for you today?" Sigel spoke up from Belldandy and Keiichi's door.

"Sigel!" Megumi sighed and slumped a little in relief. "Thank goodness you are here."

"Yes, we are fine here. Are you healthy? How is your young fetus? Have you identified the gender yet?" Sigel politely, yet eagerly inquired.

"Yeah, yeah, we're fine. The doctors say that she will be a girl," Megumi chuckled weakly.

"A girl. Congratulations! Will you bring you her over was once she is born?" Congratulated Sigel as Banpei rolled up to more closely examine Megumi's swollen belly.

"Ah, is little Kazuto no longer enough for you? Do you need another baby to fight over with Skuld?" teased Megumi. Her smile faded, "Speaking of, do you happen to know where my brother is? We heard that there was an accident involving his motorcycle."

"Keiichi left this morning as usual. However, at the time of the accident, my sensors detected Keiichi's cry, with a 93.8% probability of a correct identification, and Lady Belldandy and Lady Skuld rushed out of the temple. Neither have yet to return, nor has Keiichi returned from work today," Sigel replied. This was sufficient with the human courtesies of breaking sad news gently, right?

Megumi sagged, her distress visibly returning to her face. "You sure? Are you sure that none of them have returned home? The police said that they found the motorcycle but not the body…" Megumi stumbled forward to clutch onto Sigel's shoulders. "But are you sure that Keiichi… that my brother is … dead?" Her eyes glimmered with tears.

Sigel reached up with both of her arms to pat Megumi on the shoulders. "Maybe Keiichi is not dead. Maybe he is still alive. Lady Belldandy would not let her husband pass on while she could help it. But I have high confidence that Keiichi has gone to Heaven." If Keiichi was alive and Belldandy hadn't or couldn't heal him, then obviously the son-in-law of the Almighty would go to the place with the best medical technology, also known as Heaven.

Megumi gave a sobbing cry and collapsed to her knees. She cried as she whispered "no, no, no, no! No! No! NO! NO! NOOOOOOOOOOOOOO! Not Keiichi, please not Keiichi!"

She obviously didn't find Sigel's statement very encouraging.


	3. CC 2: Visiting an Old Home

Canon Compliancy: Visiting an Old Home

Megumi Kirigaya looked up at the worn-down temple gates, the sun directly overhead as she got out of the car she had driven up in.

14 years. She hadn't been back here in 14 years. Not since she had learned of Keiichi's death and Belldandy and her sisters' disappearance.

Kazuto got out of the front seat of the car.

"So is this where Mom and Dad lived?" he asked curiously.

Megumi nodded. "This is where your dad and mom met, lived together at, fell in love at, and married at." She turned to Kazuto. "I am so sorry Kazuto, I just- I just-" She couldn't return back here. Too many memories of watching Keiichi's and Belldandy's obvious love for each other. All now tainted by the fact that they had died together in a stupid car accident.

"It's alright Mom," Kazuto said awkwardly, obviously unsure how to handle his aunt/adoptive mother's tears. "It's alright."

"No, it is not," Megumi shook her head. "I should have told you. You deserved to have known about your parents. I should have let you come here, explained it to you- "

"Mom, I understand. It hurt. You lost your brother and didn't want to remember. It's okay."

 _It was sad that he understood._ Megumi reflected. _He should have been a happy boy growing up here, loved by two wonderful parents, not a survivor of the cursed Sword Art Online game. Not a haunted boy that wakes up alone with nightmares in the middle of the night, body weakened by two years in a hospital bed._

"Let's – let's just go inside," she sniffled, her tears blurring some of the surroundings together. "It should be familiar. You loved to crawl all over the temple."

"Uh, alright." Kazuto looked at her strangely. Oh, he was one years old back then. He wouldn't remember much at all, much less from a perspective about a meter and a half taller than back then.

As she, climbed the steps, she paid close attention to her nephew. He was still weak. But she had put off this trip for too long. She should have done it before he entered that cursed game. But he came back. He came back from the death trap. She had to do it soon before she put it off again.

* * *

Kazuto reached the top of stairs without needing any help, but he sagged against the gate pillar, breathing hard. He was exhausted. Once he could run up and down stairs. Now, even a slow climb took all of his strength.

"Well, Kazuto, take a good look around," Mom said. "This was your original home."

Taking a deep breath, Kazuto raised his head up. It was beautiful. There was an old cherry tree blooming with the season of spring, and a pond not afar off. A grove of trees around the pond gave the temple a pleasant air of beautiful nature.

Directly, in front of him lay a temple, with an offering box in the shrine. It wasn't anything odd or unusual, just your plain old average temple. A little worn-down from the years but still average.

However, as he turned towards the building off to the side, there was something that he had never seen in real life.

"A robot?" he muttered to himself. What kind of temple had robots? It was a kind of simple bipedal robot, with a unique appearance that he had never seen in any magazine about robots before but it was moving just fine, and without the use of any controller that he could see. Was it programmed with a pathfinding ability? If so, then he would love to see the code for it.

"Robot? Oh, you mean Banpei. Hey Banpei, how are you doing?" Mom called out to the strange robot. Her wave drew the robot's attention towards them both.

"Mom? I thought you said that you haven't been here for years?" Kazuto asked confused. He knew the history of robotics, over a decade ago, only cutting-edge roboticists or the rich and powerful had robots that could match the abilities of this robot back then. And even then, this robot should have had its memory banks either replaced or upgraded. No robot would have had the abilities to keep a memory storage for over a decade without going over its memory allotment.

But the robot apparently didn't know that. He waved back and started rolling over to the two of them. It wasn't frightening by any means.

"Well, its been a while," Mom began, shuffling her feet a little like she was embarrassed. "But I brought Kazuto back to visit."

Banpei jerked to a halt and then his head jerkily turned to face Kazuto.

"Um, hi? I'm Kazuto Kirigaya but I guess you would have known me as Kazuto Morisato," he began awkwardly. What do you say to an old robot that was active when you were one years old?

Banpei stilled and then jerkily brought one arm behind its back. Kazuto tensed, his SAO instincts telling him to be ready for anything. It could have a sword, an axe, a spear behind its back.

Or it could be a black marker, he noted with amusement as the robot drew a smiley face over its blank expression. It drew the smiley face a few more times, each over a layer of the last, before putting the marker back behind its back. Then it rushed forward towards him.

Kazuto yelped, and sought to dive to the side. But his body betrayed him and he didn't move fast enough.

The robot caught him halfway to the ground, grabbed him, hauled him upright and then - it hugged him.

Kazuto froze. He hadn't been expecting this gesture of affection. He regarded the robot still hugging him with a little unease.

 _Strange,_ he thought, _I think if I had been hugged by anyone else, including Mom, it would be more awkward than this. This feels – soothing somehow, odd but soothing._

Then a jet of steam blew past his head and he coughed as Banpei stopped and collapsed to a position closer to the ground, leaving him standing there, still stunned by the hug.

"Ah, yeah. Forgot about that. Banpei tends to overheat when he experiences too much. I guess he was overjoyed that you had returned home," Mom chuckled a little awkwardly. It looked like she was remembering a bit more about her brother's place.

"You see, Banpei was one of your baby sitters when you were a baby. He made sure that there was nothing in the grounds that could hurt you as you explored. He was pretty good at that. Made sure that you didn't fall into the pond or anything. I remember him once coming inside the house to grab Sigel, that's the other robot," she added, "to go sit beside you so that you didn't go for a swim in the pond. You were a pretty adventurous baby." She chuckled. "Always looking for something new."

 _Ah, so that's why I was always exploring on the front lines in Aincrad. I just treated it like it was home and a place to explore. And it was fun. Dangerous but fun._

"Yeah," Mom continued. "Let's introduce you to Sigel, shall we? Don't worry about Banpei, he'll get up soon enough."

Mom swallowed but walked towards the residence area. Half-way there, the door opened, and a tall, black garbed old monk stepped out.

"Welcome to Tariki Hongan Temple. Is there something I can help you with?" He opened with a chuckle.

"Ah, mister – what was your name again? Sorry, I forgot." Mom scratched her head, in a bit of embarrassment.

"It is Koshian, young lady. Have we met before?" Koshian asked, inclining his head.

"I am Megumi Kirigaya, Keiichi's younger sister. And this is Kazuto, Keiichi and Belldandy's son," Megumi introduced themselves to the monk, laying a hand on Kazuto's shoulder. "We met at the wedding ceremony for Keiichi and Belldandy."

"Ah, that was a fine day indeed," Koshian nodded. "I have never, in all my years seen a couple more in love nor a day more perfect for such a ceremony. Why it inspired me all over again to go on another pilgrimage!" He laughed boisterously.

He became somber and bowed slightly to Kazuto. "You have my deepest sympathies, young lad. Your mother was a very spiritually strong person, the most divine that I have ever seen. It was a grievous day, a very dark day indeed, when she died alongside her husband."

Kazuto swallowed past a lump in his throat as he awkwardly nodded. "Thanks," he choked out.

"Now that I look at you, I can see the resemblance. You have your father's features to be sure. But your beauty and spirit, that's your mother's, lad. That is your mother's."

"He does, doesn't he?" Aunt Megumi said, tilting her head and looking at Kazuto again. "I don't know how but while you have all of Keiichi's features, you have Belldandy's beauty overlaying it."

Kazuto nodded again. He wondered what his parents looked like. He hadn't seen their picture for almost four years now. Did he really look like his father? He remembered thinking that his mom was beautiful but now he couldn't remember any of her looks. Did she have black hair or brown? Was her face like his, or was it a softer version of his own?

"And his mother's spirit," Koshian added in. "You can tell. He doesn't have her tattoos but he has the same feeling of goodness and spirituality in him. Lesser, of course, but he is younger than she was when I first met her."

Tattoos? His mother had tattoos? Maybe, he mentally shrugged. He certainly didn't remember.

"Ah, right," Mom awkwardly laughed. Apparently, she hadn't noticed.

"But you probably came here to show him where his parents lived didn't you?" Koshian shrewdly said. "I figured that you would be back so I left the motorcycle in the shed and moved all their stuff to one room. Sigel and Banpei still keep one room to themselves. That was where their mistress Skuld built them after all."

"Mistress Skuld?" Mom snickered. "You call the kid 'Mistress Skuld' now?"

Koshian blinked before throwing his head back, roaring with laughter. "I guess I spend too much time talking with Sigel now. She always refers to the kid as 'Mistress Skuld', so I do too now. But come in, come in. Sigel will be happy to see you. And I'll need to tell her to give a fix-up to Banpei soon. He doesn't break down like that often."

The monk opened the door for them as they walked through, eyeing Kazuto as he seemed to exhale too heavily for such a short walk, but didn't say anything.

Mom walked through the house, apparently still familiar with the old building. "Here's the kitchen, your mom had an amazing touch with food. Your aunts loved to spend time in the living room, either arguing over what show to watch or fighting with each other. Here was Urd's room, right?"

Koshian nodded. "Yes, that was Urd's old room. Had more chemistry sets than I've ever seen in even in college. I had to be very careful when I moved them into Keiichi and Belldandy's room. This is where I sleep now. It didn't feel right to sleep where the couple used to sleep."

Megumi nodded in thanks and continued, "This is the bathroom. You could spend hours in here with either your mother or your aunts, just playing in the water. Skuld loved to give you a bath. I think you were one of the few boys who _liked_ taking baths. Probably because you viewed it as play-time, not bath-time." She snickered again.

"This is your aunt's Skuld's room. She was the one who built Banpei and later Sigel. A precocious genius, she was. Bit of a brat about it but she adored you and your mother. She was always the first one to volunteer to look after you when your mother had something to do." She paused at the door and turned to Kazuto, "Since Sigel is here, would you like to meet her? Sigel took care of you whenever you were indoors."

Kazuto nodded. Another robot. If it was anything like Banpei, then he would really like to meet her. He wondered if she was like Yui, an advanced Artificial Intelligence.

Mom laid one hand on the handle, and exhaled slowly. Then she abruptly opened the door, yelling "Sigel, I've brought Kazuto back. Come out and meet him!"

Kazuto looked through the door into a treasure trove of parts. Old parts, sure, but more parts than he ever saw anywhere other than specialty stores. He swallowed some saliva that was pooling up in his mouth. Possibly more than some small specialty stores.

In a side of the room, an elaborate child sized mannequin stood, dressed, colored, and decorated in girl's clothes but as he watched, she moved around to face them. Her expression didn't change much but he could tell that she was growing excited.

That was shown less than a second later as the girl mannequin raced forward faster than a human could, screaming "Lord Kazuto!"

He felt the impact as the child sized robot rammed into him, hugging him with her strength. He had been wrong. This was a much better robot in term of appearances. His aunt must have been a prodigy.

"How have you been! You have grown so tall! Why, you were just learning to walk when I last saw you! Are you sleeping well? You don't look so healthy." Sigel stopped, retreating a few steps from where she had running all around him, checking him all over. She glared at Mom, "When your aunt took you away from here, I thought she would have taken better care of you than this!"

Mom, ruffled the back of her hair, but didn't look quite as happy as she usually did when she did that gesture. "Sorry, he was in Sword Art Online when Kayaba took it into his death trap. If we had known, we would have never allowed him to get the Nerve Gear."

Sigel gasped in outrage even as Koshian winced, "KAYABA AKIHIKO! Oh, that good-for-nothing, rotten, dirty, little cheat! If I had known, I would have contacted my mistress immediately as soon as I heard of him! We would have gotten his contract cancelled faster than you could blink!"

Wheeling on Kazuto, she ran her hands over him, checking his physique. "Are you eating enough? I know you humans need food in solid form for maximum health benefit but you seem too skinny. Where's your muscle mass? Your fat? You have to stay for lunch today! You are not allowed to go home without some food in you, Lord Kazuto!"

Kazuto chuckled nervously. Apparently, she was a little overprotective. However, she reminded him of a motherly Yui. Concerned over the little things, adorable, and fiercely protective of those she loved. Plus, she seemed to like food too.

Sigel wheeled on his mother, skirt fluttering from the abrupt motion. "You take him to Lady Belldandy and Keiichi's room and show him his parent's and his baby stuff. I'll go make lunch now." She said rolling up her sleeves as she rolled out the room. "If you need some more things to show him, we've fixed up Keiichi's motorcycle. Since he won't be using it for a bit longer, you can take it with you. It would love to be in Lord Kazuto's service!"

Aunt Megumi's smile turned strained at the reminder of the accident that claimed her brother's life. However, Koshian called out after Sigel, "Your fiancé suffered an overload again. You might want to fix that up."

"That silly man! Even if Lord Kazuto's return is a joyous occasion, it's no excuse to suffer a break-down! I'll start him back up and then make lunch. You will all be staying anyways!" She called back over her shoulder.

"Fiancé?" Kazuto glanced at Koshian. "She has a fiancé?"

"Ah, Banpei finally impressed her enough to become his girlfriend?" Mom asked Koshian curiously.

The monk chuckled, "It took him a few years but it was obvious that she was falling in love with him even when I returned for the wedding. A slow couple indeed."

In his head, Kazuto considered that if Sigel and Banpei could fall in love, then what about Yui? Could she find a boyfriend? _I refuse! Yui is too young for a boyfriend!_

"Slow, huh? That's even slower than my brother! And he lived and went everywhere with Belldandy and it still took him over a year to finally become engaged!" Mom exploded.

Kazuto raised an eyebrow. Over a year? Seriously? His parents were that thick? He was learning more about his parents today than he had for the past decade!

Leaving the room behind with a longing glance towards all the parts, Kazuto followed his adopted mother down the hall past a room, down to another room where there appeared to be a door bell of all things on the frame.

Megumi saw his look and said "Oh, the doorbell was installed by Skuld after you were born. She realized that at the rate you were growing up, she would lose her adorable baby nephew in a few years. So, she concluded that the best way to have adorable baby nephews was to sound-proof your parents room so that they could, ah, how to put it, make babies without bothering the rest of the house. But sound-proofing is two-way so she installed a door-bell." She laughed. "Its funny because before they married, Skuld was the person most adamant that Keiichi wouldn't even hold hands with Belldandy and after you were born, she was probably the person who most badly wanted them to make more babies. Funny how you made her reverse her priorities."

Kazuto blushed. He didn't even know his parents or Aunt Skuld but he didn't need to know that! And how did his adoptive mother even know things like that!

"Anyways," Aunt Megumi said, pulling attention back to the present. "This is your parents room." And with that, she opened the door.

With the build-up from coming here, Kazuto expected something. He didn't expect to see a room crowded with furniture. Half of the room was nothing but shelves filled with bottles and beakers and the other half had a desk, a two-person futon, and a crib.

"Yeah, the monk said he moved Urd's stuff in here, so ignore the shelves. Your father moved in here when he was a college student so he did his homework, and later his tax papers, there on the desk." She pointed to the low desk which still had some papers on it. "I had forgotten about your crib."

She moved to run her hands along the edges of the crib, eyes unfocused as she looked into the memories of the past. "When I came here to check on my brother, your father, you were lying here. You had cried yourself to sleep that night. I could still see the tear marks on your blanket and pillow."

She glanced at Kazuto, barely even seeing him as she recalled the horrible days and nights a decade past. "It wasn't the last time you cried yourself to sleep. You spent the next several months crying. It wasn't until little Sugu was born that you stopped."

She sighed. "When my husband brought you to the hospital, you cried the whole way. Not hard to understand, it is impossible for us to match the sheer quantity of love that Belldandy had towards you. And both she and Keiichi loved you with all their heart. But when you first saw Suguha, you stopped crying. I never felt more grateful because we would not have survived having to calm both of you down at night."

As she spoke, Kazuto crept into the room, closer to the crib and bed where he had lived for the first year of his life. He didn't recognize the room. It didn't even smell familiar with all the unusual smells from the chemicals on Urd's shelves. But something in this room spoke of love. Love and peace that he remembered feeling from when he was with Asuna on their honeymoon in SAO. It cut through the constant worry that Asuna would never wake up from her Nerve Gear. He felt at home.

"I'm back," he whispered.

* * *

That wasn't the end of the trip. Sigel had quadrupled the usual amounts of food that she made, in order to make sure that he ate enough. And if he didn't, she was standing over him, staring at him until he picked up the chopsticks again. It was sort-of awkward being bullied into eating by a girl-sized robot. Like their places had flipped, she, the adult and he, the child. Never mind that even with him sitting down, he still was a few centimeters taller than her.

However, he listened with fascination as Koshian, Megumi and Sigel swapped stories over the table. Koshian spoke highly of his father's work ethics and his mother's spiritual strength. Apparently, Mom had been a very spiritual Buddhist that was either at Nirvana or close to it. Koshian wasn't sure. Sigel told stories of how his mother got jealous over other girls getting close to his father. She also said that most of those girls only got close because Belldandy was in love with him. He wasn't a very impressive man until you considered that he held Belldandy's heart and the lengths he was willing to go for her. Megumi told about how his father also had a knack for having situations spiral out of control, much like how Kazuto remembered Sword Art Online going for him. Looks like he inherited it from his dad, especially his luck with girls. His dad really had no luck with girls either until he met his wife. Kazuto didn't have any luck with girls even after he met Asuna. He used it all up on Asuna and Yui.

Even Banpei joined in, signing his words to Sigel who translated them to the rest of the group. Banpei told about how he, under his programming from Mistress Skuld, had obstructed them from being together. But he also told of how sometimes Urd and Skuld play-fought each other, Skuld with robots and home-made explosives, and Urd with potions (as Sigel called the chemical mixtures he saw in his parent's bedroom) and apparently tasers or electric shocks. A few times Banpei told of how their fights sometimes ran out of control. But his father just stood back up and helped put things back together. Or just endured until Belldandy could. Sometimes there was no difference.

It wasn't until everyone had finished eating lunch over an hour ago, and Kazuto still felt full from all the food he ate, that Aunt Megumi looked up at the clock and mentioned that they needed to get back. It took half a day to get here so they would need half a day to get back.

Sigel pouted and asked "So when are you going to come back? We missed you lots, Lord Kazuto."

Megumi sighed. "I wish we could come more often but this is pretty far out from Tokyo. But if you want, I can arrange for some train tickets if you would like to come back out here. Kazuto?"

Kazuto nodded. He wanted a connection to his parents. He liked learning who they were and talking with Sigel and Banpei. Koshian didn't know a lot but he still obviously held high regard for his parents.

"All right. Just tell me when you have a weekend free and I'll give you a ticket and some cash and you can come out here." Mom said.

"Eh, he doesn't need cash. I still have some unoccupied bedrooms. It would be no problem to let him sleep here. Also, Banpei functions as a scooter so he can pick him up at the train station." Koshian generously offered.

Banpei made some gestures and Sigel translated. "So when would you like for us to bring Keiichi's motorcycle over? It doesn't look like your car will be able to hold the motorcycle and we refuse to let Kazuto drive yet. But if you give us the address, Banpei can drive the motorcycle over to your house in Tokyo. Not today though, the solar cells need some more sunlight hours before Banpei will be able to drive all the way over and back without issue."

After the gesturing stopped, Sigel added "On an aside, you won't be riding that motorcycle until you get some meat on those bones. You are far too skinny."

Banpei made some sign language and Sigle puffed up her chest in pride as she said "Banpei will even teach you how to drive. He learned how from watching your father's races."

Kazuto looked up wide-eyed. "Dad was a racer?"

Megumi took a sip of her peach juice. "Yup, good one too. He won more races than he lost, even if his opponents did some dirty plays or had better equipment. I had my own share of races too but not as many professional ones as your dad did."

Banpei made some more signals and Sigel wheeled on him. "Are you sure? I don't want you to be gone that long!"

Banpei waved his arms around some more, and Sigel reluctantly nodded, "Fine, but don't take too long, okay?"

Turning back to her human audience, Sigel translated. "If you give us the address, Banpei will be willing to come over a few weeks before the end of summer break and teach you how your parents drove. They were masters at driving and were even better when they drove together."

Mom hesitated. "I am not sure-"

"Oh, don't worry, we modified Keiichi's motorcycle so that it would be safer than the usual motorcycle. By the time Banpei goes over, we should be able to have a driving suit full of airbags that will deploy when in a collision. He will be the safest person on the road." Sigel rejoindered before Aunt Megumi could even finish her sentence.

"Well," Aunt Megumi looked over to Kazuto. He made his expression as pitiful as he could. "Well, alright. But he better not be driving that until he gets his license!"

"Banpei will be getting a professional Driver's Ed teaching certificate. That is why we have to wait a few more months. But Banpei can do it!" Sigel enthusiastically threw in.

"Hey thanks, Banpei, Sigel," Kazuto murmured in a throat choked up with tears.

Sigel nodded and moved to hug him. Banpei came up beside them and hugged them both.

Megumi teared up watching the scene. Two robots, one humanoid, another aesthetically simple, and a lone teenager all hugging each other. Silent tears rolled down Kazuto's eyes but the smiles on all three faces dispelled any worry that it was of sorrow.

They were happy. They were all happy to be together again.

"It is good to have you back, Lord Kazuto." Sigel spoke softly. "Just don't take so long to return back here again."

Banpei nodded silently.

"I will." Kazuto promised. "I'll come back one day with my friends and girlfriend too."

* * *

As they got to their car, a cry came from behind and up the stairs.

"Wait!"

Koshian called out, huffing as he ran down the stairs. As he reached the bottom, the old monk stopped to catch his breath.

Standing up straight, he explained. "I figured that you didn't have any personal pictures of your parents. So, I got this from among my things."

As Koshian handed the small object over to Kazuto, Kazuto looked at it curiously. It was a photo in a picture case. A photo of a beautiful brown-haired woman dressed in an elaborate white wedding gown standing next to a short, black-haired Japanese man, dressed in an immaculate white suit. Around the happy couple stood various others in white or red gowns and formal suits. Two were tanned and had white hair. Many people had 3 unique tattooed symbols on their head. He recognized Aunt Megumi and Grandpa and Grandma but didn't recognize the others.

"Take it. It is a picture from the wedding ceremony I performed for your parents. They had already married according to your mother's people's customs but their friends and family wanted to do a wedding in Japan. I took a break from my pilgrimage and got here in time to marry them. Took a picture of all of them together too." Koshian explained, wiping some sweat off his face. "Your aunt can probably point out the various people better than I can, but I figured that you might want something to remind you of them."

Kazuto stared at the photo and reached out a hand to touch the glass over the smiling image of his father and mother. Who else could they be? He recognized his features in both of them.

He turned up towards Koshian and bowed deeply, choking up but managing to say from the bottom of his heart, "Thank you."

"No, young lad, thank you. You gave your parents such joy that I can still feel it in the temple today. Thank you for being born." Koshian bowed a shallower bow in return to Kazuto.

"They did love you. Both my brother and my sister-in-law loved you from the bottom of their hearts, and their hearts were very big and deep," Megumi said crossing her arms over the roof of the car.

Kazuto couldn't keep the tears from rolling down his face. He bowed his head again and just said "Thank you."

* * *

 **A bit of a tear-jerker and Kazuto is very emotional but what else do you expect from a boy who is learning about his parents? He found out by himself that his parents were dead and now his aunt takes him to a place where he learned more about his parents personalities and who they were. It seems to me that Kazuto would be rather emotional simply due to how important family is to him. After all, if family wasn't important, he wouldn't have rejected his adoptive family because they lied to him about him not being born their son. I would say that he regards family as rather important.**


	4. Intern 1: The Start

**Kazuto the Intern Wishgranter: The Goddess Relief Office's Temporary Intern for Aincrad, the Start**

I was all ready to start. I had been waiting for this for this moment for months, ever since the beta had ended.

"Keiichi! Kazuto! Lunch is ready!" Urd called from the dining room.

I paused. Oh yeah. Mom and Dad were going on a post-marriage date tonight. It was something the two of them did every so often. Auntie Urd called it almost sickeningly cute and Auntie Skuld got a little jealous but I felt differently.

It is _embarrassing_.

I can handle my parents acting a bit like newly-weds since they acted like it _all the time_ , but I absolutely don't want to see them on dates.

It was weird! Cousin Suguha called it sweet but they were my _parents_.

Auntie Urd just said that one day I will understand. I don't think so. I am pretty sure that she is talking about puberty and romance and all that stuff. But I started puberty some time ago, and even though I want to work up the courage to talk with a black-haired girl in homeroom and eventually confess to her, I don't want to act like my _parents_ about it.

Mostly because they never stop acting like a lovey-dovey couple that is on a honeymoon phase. Even if they aren't acting… because they really are a couple that won't stop acting like newly-weds! They haven't changed how they acted in my 14 years of life!

Anyways, Mom had cooked a late lunch for everybody else and lunch time was family time, as she always insisted. So I would have to put off playing Sword Art Online for a few more hours.

Oh well. Mom's cooking was worth putting off SAO.

Or was SAO worth putting off Mom's cooking for a few more hours?

Hmmm.

Wait, Mom might ban me from playing with electronics again if I don't eat lunch with them.

It was a disciple thing for our family. Each of us had our own punishments because grounding didn't exactly work on us as Grandpa Tyr had yet to discover. Auntie Skuld was forced to go without ice-cream or make useless inventions. Usually by her 20th, she was in tears. Auntie Urd either had to give up her alcohol or sit in the corner and reflect. She was usually twitching by the end of half-an-hour spent there. She just couldn't hold still and be bored. Dad, which was very rare as he usually didn't get in trouble, had to go buy and eat take-out instead of Mom's meals. And Mom never did. She was perfect like that. But Auntie Urd had threatened to do 'that' once – whatever 'that' is. They refused to answer me when I asked.

And me? They had to turn off all electronics, put a barrier blocking all EM waves from outside, and force me to run around the temple.

My name is Kazuto Morisato, the demi-god of the internet. Demi-god, fourth class, fourth category (the children division in other words), with a recharge medium of the internet if you want to be formal. I also have a transport medium too - but it hasn't been invented yet.

When, I was a child, I was worried that my formal identification had two fours, as four is a sign of death but Mom explained it as a warning to Death that if it touched a fourth class, fourth category then the being who did was going to suffer a terrifying sealing. She said that the double fours aren't a curse on me, it's a warning of a curse on anyone who harms me. It was kind of nice. Like death is my friend, not my enemy.

But when I was ten years old, I bragged about it at school.

It was the worst day in my life.

My former friends teased and picked on me for it, calling me an early Chuunibyou for thinking that I was a demi-god, even though I really am a demi-god.

When I got home, Dad wouldn't allow Mom to go and tell them that she was a goddess and therefore I truly am a demi-god. He said that we lived happily and (relatively) peacefully by keeping quiet about it. So, I had to endure it.

While I cried and Mom listened, lent me her shoulder to cry on, and comforted with me, Dad went out and talked with every parent of each of my former friends. At the end of it, I had some of my friends apologize to me. Amazingly, a few of them actually meant it and didn't continue once our parent's backs were turned.

I still decided to go to a middle school that no one in my elementary school went to though. I didn't want to be remembered as the early delusional 8th grade student. I was quiet and reserved in school now, very different from elementary school.

Anyways, I had to go eat lunch else Mom would ban me from playing SAO tomorrow.

I glanced back at the NerveGear sitting on my desk, that seemed to whisper, "Play me. Put me on your head and join SAO."

I shook my head. I didn't respond. I had some of Mom's ability to connect with everything but I could only do with programs. It wasn't as fun as the firewalls are bullies and will beat you up if you didn't give them the passwords, hack them, or overpower them.

But that was what Mom's Valkyrie training classes were for. Not that it made the firewalls any nicer when you did beat them up.

It also made Mom disappointed that you used her self-defense lessons to beat up programs.

I sighed. I really want to play but lunch first. Then I can play all afternoon and night long!

Tonight's dinner was pizza night since Mom and Dad were going to eat out.

And cold pizza was pretty good.

Especially when Mom made it yesterday and all we have to do is take it out from the freezer and bake it in the oven.

* * *

 _Lunch was delicious,_ Keiichi thought happily.

His rather large family, most of whom were the product of birth control not working on a goddess or a mortal who was having regular sex with a goddess, was eating Belldandy's cooking. Today was tempura with rice and side dishes.

And Belldandy's cooking was as delicious as ever. Various vegetables, grown in the garden they had planted as the food budget had grown bigger and bigger as the family had grown, were especially delicious when Belldandy had raised the food with love and care before preparing to feed it to her family.

"Thanks, Belldandy," Keiichi said, smiling at his wife, who beamed back at him. "It was delicious."

"I am glad, Keiichi," Belldandy said, smiling back.

"Thanks for the food," came the chorus of replies from the children old enough to speak.

"I can't believe you still act like that," Urd shook her head. "Years of being boyfriend and girlfriend and now over a decade of married life and you _still_ say the exact. Same. Things."

Keiichi coughed in embarrassment. "Well, just because it was delicious years ago doesn't mean Belldandy's food isn't delicious now. It still is and is as good as ever."

Urd buried her face in her hands and mumbled, "Yeah, yeah. I get it. Lovebirds won't ever go out of love. Just-" she sighed, in obvious resignation to a daily ritual that was over a decade and a half old, "Continue on. Say the exact same words as always."

Belldandy and Keiichi blushed in embarrassment as their children giggled.

Kazuto, their oldest and first-born son, quickly got up and scampered towards the door.

"Kazuto," Belldandy called out without turning around as she helped her youngest boy, 13 month old Kei, to eat his lunch.

Kazuto froze at the door.

"Yes, Mom?" he asked, a hint of dread in his voice.

"Did you put your plate away?" she asked without looking.

"No, Mom," he said sullenly.

"Then please-"

Belldandy's motherly rebuke was interrupted by the phone ringing.

"Ai, after putting your dishes in the sink, can you please get the phone?" Belldandy asked her oldest daughter.

"Yes, mom," she said as she got up to put her dishes in the sink.

Kazuto almost grumbled as he turned back to the table to put his plate away.

"And remember, Kazuto, it is your turn to help clean the dishes," Belldandy finished her instructions to her oldest.

"But Mom-!"

"What is it, Kazuto?"

"But today is the day for the release of SAO!"

"And I am sure that it will be just as fun as it would be if you waited half-an-hour."

"But there is a rumor that _Kayaba Akihiko_ will be in Starting City today!" Kazuto protested.

* * *

I glared at Mom but she was immune to my glares as she continued feeding Kei.

But- it was _Kayaba Akihiko_. He was amazing!

What if I missed his public appearance?

I wouldn't be able to ask him any questions about Full Dive technology!

"I still don't see what that jumped-up mortal has got that is better than anything I can do," Auntie Skuld grumbled.

Skuld looked like she was in her late teenage years, but don't let that fool you. She, like Mom and Aunt Urd, is a goddess. They age slower than a mortal or even a demi-god does.

In other words, she was probably older than Dad.

But we don't talk about age here. Something about mutually assured destruction between Auntie Urd and Auntie Skuld and somehow Grandma Ansuz is in there with the pact of assured destruction.

We all know how old Grandma Hild is though. Somewhere over 10,000. And she'll give you a wedgie if you ask for a more precise number at her birthday party.

"But Kayaba did all that without any magic or divine technology," I pointed out as I deposited my plate into the sink and turned around to face my aunt. "It isn't quite fair to compare you to a human who had to revolutionize the field of virtual technology to create the first virtual reality game. _And_ he did it before his 40th birthday."

Auntie Skuld twitched.

She really doesn't like it when we argue with her. But she loves it when we spend time with her and praise her.

Unfortunately, we grow out of it.

But then again, Mom never stops churning out babies, so Auntie Skuld never stops having the cheerful voices of young kids following her around, chirping out "Wow, Auntie Skul! Auntie Skul!"

She loves it. About half of her inventions are designed to awe the young ones.

"Moooom!" Ai called out from the hallway phone. "It's Grandpa! And it's for Kazuto!"

The room went quiet except for the happy sounds Kei was making as he ate before he tilted his head at why everything was so quiet.

Grandpa never called unless it was important or our birthdays.

He found it difficult to clear the time for it.

And we almost never saw him, only for a brief few minutes at our birthdays before he had to go back to work.

Of course, we understood (we being the older children) that Grandpa was in the difficult position of loving two different women, Grandma Ansuz and Grandma Hild. And that due to stuff happening, he and Grandma Hild could never meet or one of them would die.

So he took the onerous responsibility of staying cooped up in Heaven unless Hild sent a message saying that she would spend a day cooped up in Hell so that he could visit us.

According to Mom and Auntie Urd and Auntie Skuld's stories, he spent most of that time cooped up at his desk. Grandpa's first bit of free time in centuries had been for our family picture that hung on the temple wall.

It was outdated now, with about five more kids that weren't in the photo, but at the time Grandma Ansuz had scheduled time off in Grandpa Tyr's schedule just so that he could make it to the picture taking event.

That had been the start of Grandpa making regular trips to our birthday parties as he became aware that we grew up much faster than his daughters had. If he didn't make regular time off to see us, we would never see him until we were all grown up.

As it was, he was always shocked at how much we have grown since the last time he saw us.

But why was he asking for me? My 14th birthday had been last month.

I looked to Mom, who looked back at me.

"Go and see what Grandpa Tyr wants, dear," she told me.

As I took the permission to skip out on the dishes, I could hear Mom ask Dad to follow and find out too.

* * *

The family sat in silence around our table.

Grandpa Tyr was asking for our help.

Apparently, Kayaba Akihiko had cheated a little in making SAO. He had made a contract with the demons.

And Hild had just called him, panicking as she couldn't stop the contract.

Mokkurkalfi had been too caught up in planning and coding and building machines for a virtual world and how to link it to human sensations by manipulating their nerves, to pay attention to how Kayaba had altered the contract as they had negotiated it. And now, the Ultimate Force for Niddhogg was keeping Hild from terminating the contract or keeping it from being made.

And Kayaba had just informed the government that SAO was a death game.

10,000 people would be trapped in a virtual world where no godly, demonic, or earthly power could separate them. Only a resident of Aincrad, and a hero of Aincrad at that according to what Mokkurkalfi remembered, could end it.

And the only thing Grandma and Grandpa could do was send in someone to help free people.

And only a demi-god could survive the radiation from a NerveGear. Our bodies were hardy enough that it was very difficult to kill someone with the blood of a god or demon or earth spirit.

And everyone, Grandpa Tyr, Grandma Hild, and Grandma Ansuz, knew that I was going to play Sword Art Online. It had been all I could talk about at my birthday party last month.

So, they had called to ask me to make that sacrifice for the people who were already trapped in it.

They had no other options. The Ultimate Force of Nidhogg was keeping people from wishing for their freedom, whether in a demon contract or a wish from a Goddess.

To be honest, I was scared.

A death game. A game that would kill you if you messed up and your avatar died.

I would survive, but…

What about everyone else? What about Argo and Cooper and all the other Beta players who had come back for the main game?

We all had died multiple times per floor. Most of the time, it wasn't even to bugs or glitches, just to gameplay and stupid choices!

And now, we couldn't mess up even once.

One mistake and…

You're gone.

You're dead like Grandma Takano and Grandpa Keima.

Never to wake up again.

Never to see Mom or Dad or my younger sisters and my younger brothers-

I took control of my breathing like Mom had taught me when I started learning how to use my magic. You had to control your emotions or else your magic would rage out of control.

I retraced my thoughts, noticing that I was taking it almost for granted that I would go.

Yes, it appeared that I already had decided.

I was going to go in.

But I wasn't going to go in without help.

Grandpa had offered me a temporary license. I would be interim Fourth Class, Second and Special Duty Category, unrestricted.

Meaning that I while I was still a child, I would be working under the offices of wish-granting and Valkyrie duty. And I would not be bound by my class limitations of almost no power because no one trusted young children with any degree of power when a temper tantrum could potentially turn people inside out.

It meant that I could do magic.

Not that I knew how to use magic inside Aincrad. Things got a little tricky when you were dealing with people's minds and software and I didn't have either an angel or a familiar yet to help control my magic with fine precision.

But if I managed to find a GM terminal, I could potentially use my power to try to hack Aincrad from the inside.

And since no external force could free the trapped people-

-what about a force from within?

And Grandpa said that he would try to create some new legislation about if a god working under both wish-granting and Valkyrie duty (meaning me since gods and goddesses only got to be under one category at any given time) were to grant a wish and not use Yggdrassil to grant the wish but instead did it with their own power, then the power that Yggdrassil would have used to fulfill the wish would be added to my own reserves.

So despite being only slightly stronger than Dad in terms of magical strength, I could potentially do magic that only an unrestricted god could do.

So all I needed to do was figure out how to interact with Aincrad.

And it would not be easy as simply entering and then starting to hack.

Code and programming was meaningless if you tried to start anywhere other than the start. I had tried communicating with Aincrad from inside Aincrad before.

It had been pure gibberish.

Mom and Auntie Skuld said that if I found a way to control where I started reading so that I started at the start of a program, then I could understand what Cardinal had been saying. So if I started reading at say, an internal GM console where I could make inputs into the game without getting the annoying firewalls telling me that I didn't have permission to do that.…

I could very well give myself administrator rights and tell the game to let everyone log out.

And it wouldn't violate the contract that Hild could not break due to Mokkurkalfi's mistake.

As Grandpa waited for my decision, I spoke up and told him.

* * *

"Thank you, Kazuto," Grandpa said with a note of gratitude, dread and frustration in his voice. "There is nothing else we _can_ do. So please, save them. I'll do what I can to give you support, but you'll have to do much of this on your own."

"And Kazuto."

"I'm proud of you. This must have been a difficult decision to make, and you made it."

I didn't tear up.

But I couldn't say anything past the lump in my throat either.

Grandpa never said anything like that.

For him to say that he was proud of me-

It meant that he was _really_ proud of me.

I let him hang up before turning around to see my dad standing behind me.

I couldn't say anything.

But Dad could.

He just placed his hands on my shoulder, bent down a little to look me in the face and told me, "Kazuto."

"I'm proud of you too."

He then drew me into a hug.

I didn't mind.

It meant that Dad didn't see me tear up.

Several of my siblings crowded around me, coming into the hug too.

Skuld had upgraded the phone so that if we all stood really close, anyone else could perfectly hear the phone too if we pressed one of a few buttons. And avoided the self-destruct button.

"Why don't you go and give everyone else and Mom a hug before you go be a hero?" Dad asked. "I'll explain everything to them but I think you said that there was only a limited amount of time where Kayaba was in Aincrad?"

"Now just go and do your best," Dad pulled me away a little so he could look me in the eyes. "Because I believe that you will succeed."

I could only nod and follow his advice.

* * *

Thanks to Dad explaining things while I said my goodbyes, I was lying down on my futon, ready to start the game, with everyone in our family around me, in less than 5 minutes since Grandpa ended his call.

"Goodbye Kazuto," my siblings said. "Good luck!"

"Come home safely Kazuto," Mom said while holding my youngest brother, tears in her eyes but a smile on her face. I think it was the first time I had seen Mom cry.

I almost recanted my decision at seeing them. But I couldn't leave my fellow Beta Testers to face Aincrad alone.

"Go in and kick ass, kid!" Auntie Urd said, giving me a thumbs up.

"Urd!" Mom scolded her sister for her language.

Auntie Skuld wasn't there as she was busy trying to figure out a way to create an interface device with my NerveGear.

She and Mokkurkalfi had a rivalry. If Mokkurkalfi could make something, Aunt Skuld would try to beat it.

And since Mokkurkalfi had been limited to earthly materials and no magic for the design of the NerveGear, Aunt Skuld was certain that she could make something that could run rings around it.

"Go safely Kazuto," Dad said, one hand on Mom's shoulder. "You go with our faith and trust."

I just gave a nod, not trusting my voice to respond.

Before I said the crucial words.

"Link Start."


End file.
